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Pagnanawon, Surban, Mier, 3 other Cebuanos qualify for 2015 Ronda Pilipinas this weekend

AFTER three stages of the 2015 Ronda Pilipinas Visayas qualifying leg, Cebu’s marquee riders Jaybob Pagnanawon, Niño Surban and John Rene Mier have secured slots to the championship round on Feb. 22 to 27 from Greenfield City in Sta. Rosa, Laguna to Baguio City.

Pagnanawon is the son of 1986 Marlboro Tour champion Rolando “Boy” Pagnanawon; Mier is a current national team rider; while Surban is a third placer in the 2015 Asean MTB Cup men’s elite cross country.

Other Cebuanos Elmer Navarro, Marvin Tapic and Jaybob’s younger brother Jhunvie Pagnanawon will also be joining the championship fray.

The six earned the championship slots alongside 33 other qualifiers.

Pagnanawon of Talisay City, Cebu shone the brightest among Cebu’s elite riders in the Visayas leg with an outstanding first place finish in the Dumaguete City to Escalante City Stage 1 grind.

The Cebuano riders will not make up one team but will rather be distributed to other teams.

Navarro and Mier will be in Team Cebu with riders from Luzon; the Pagnanawon brothers are in Team Negros; Surban will joinTeam Cycleline of Butuan; while Tapic will suit up for the Philippine Army.

“I will still represent Cebu kay ilado man ta nga taga Cebu gyud bisag naa mi sa lain na grupo,” Surban told Sun.Star Cebu in a text message yesterday.

Surban said that the championship round, which will start this weekend, will feature eight stages.

As posted on the Ronda Pilipinas social networking page, the championship round starts with the 60-kilometer Paseo Greenfield criterium. It will be followed by the 120.5K Calamba- Atimonan stage two both on Feb. 22. It will be followed by the 171.1K Stage 3 from the Quezon Provincial Capitol in Lucena City to the Rizal Provincial Capitol in Antipolo on Feb. 23; the 199K MalolosTarlac Stage 4 on Feb. 24; the 151.8K TarlacDagupan Stage 5 on Feb. 25, and the 152.5K Dagupan-Baguio Stage 6 on Feb. 26.

The event will culminate in the mountaintop Baguio with the 8.8K stage seven individual trial and the 90K stage eight criterium both on Feb. 27. .

The two-stage Luzon qualifying leg in Tarlac and Antipolo City started last Sunday, and the qualifiers from that leg will join the riders from the Visayas, and a guest European composite team all with an eye to the top purse worth P1 million. RSC